#### 16.6.2 Understanding how ALinks work

Associative links (ALinks) connect a given topic to one or more other topics that share the same ALink keyword. When you are viewing a topic that contains an ALink jump, you can click the ALink jump hotspot (or related-topics button) to see a list of links to associated topics. The list of links is displayed either in a navigation pane (as in OmniHelp), or in a pop-up menu or dialog (as in WinHelp 4, HTML Help, and Oracle Help for Java).

The following DITA2Go-generated Help systems support ALinks:

WinHelp 4

HTML Help

OmniHelp

Oracle Help for Java

ALink keyword

You insert an ALink keyword (via ALink PI marker) at the start of a topic, to accomplish the following:

- assign membership of that topic in an ALink set
- provide a destination for corresponding links from an ALink list, which is accessed from an ALink jump.

The ALink set is identified by the ALink keyword. In effect, you label the topic with an ALink keyword.

ALink jump

At the start of some other topic, you insert an ALink jump (via ALinkJump PI marker) that specifies the same ALink keyword; when a user clicks that ALink jump, the corresponding ALink list of links to all topics in the set is displayed.

Bi-directional ALinks

OmniHelp supports a variation: all topics that share the same ALink keyword belong to the same “pool” of topics. When any topic that is a member of a pool is displayed, links to all other members of that pool are automatically listed in the navigation pane when you click Related. See §16.6.4.1 Adding related-topic link keywords via PI markers.

For a similar approach in HTML Help and Oracle Help for Java, see §16.6.6 Creating target-and-jump ALinks for HTML-based Help.

Previous Topic: 16.6.1 Understanding related-topic links

Next Topic: 16.6.3 Understanding how KLinks work

Parent Topic: 16.6 Providing related-topic links for Help systems

Sibling Topics:

16.6.1 Understanding related-topic links

16.6.3 Understanding how KLinks work

16.6.4 Adding related-topic link keywords in DITA XML

16.6.5 Adding ALink and KLink jumps in DITA XML

16.6.6 Creating target-and-jump ALinks for HTML-based Help

16.6.7 Specifying ALink and KLink list-link destinations